The suspense over who would be the next Sebi chairman is likely to continue for some more days as the final round of interviews, earlier scheduled for December 3, has been postponed, a finance ministry official told FE.
A panel headed by Cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, along with finance secretary Ashok Chawla, financial services secretary R Gopalan and department of personnel secretary Shantanu Consul, will decide who should head the new capital market regulator. The official said, the selection will be done by December end.
Among those short-listed for the post, mutual fund industry body Amfi chairman UK Sinha and corporate affairs secretary R Bandyopadhyay are said to be top contenders, sources close to the development said. Others short-listed for the final interview include department of disinvestment additional secretary S Pradhan, Madhya Pradesh principal secretary GP Singhal and two managing directors at SBI, S K Bhattacharya and R Sridharan.
Sources said former joint secretary in the capital markets division in finance ministry KP Krishnan, who was not among the initially shortlisted candidates is not out of the fray yet. Krishnan and Sinha have the advantage of being part of various committees formed by Sebi and the Finance Ministry for capital market regulations. Krishan was also a part of the Bimal Jalan committee that last week submitted a report on ownership and governance issues at stock exchanges and other market infrastructure institutions. Names of SBI chairman OP Bhatt and RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty were also considered earlier, but Bhatt opted out of the race.
The finance ministry had invited applications for the post of Sebi chairman in September. While incumbent Bhave, who assumed office in 2007, has a term of three years ending in February, 2011, the next chairman would get a five-year term. The committee had considered close to 20 candidates at its last meeting.